The Story of: ‘Stories of a Lifetime’

Stories are what allow us to share some of the most complex and oldest ideas from around the world. They help us understand, feel others people’s emotions, unlock what drives them and further explore their thoughts and ideas. Many cultures from around the world use stories in their teachings and are the pages of their history books. As we move into the digital age the way we share stories and hear stories is changing, but still a vital part of our societal understandings.

A photo of Marc’s Foundation class sharing their stories with me.

Marc Faulder,a teacher in Nottingham, England and myself have taken on a journey. A journey to share these stories and to record them in a way where the world can hear them. Part of this journey involved me having the privilege of visiting Marc at his school in the UK to discover the stories of his local area and see how this project has impacted his Early Years classroom. Marc is an outstanding teacher who focuses on how the use of technology can enhance classrooms around the world.

This literacy based program was first born during a simple conversation between educators (myself and Marc), as World Book Day came closer and closer in the UK, Marc needed a story from the ‘Australians’. The story of Tiddalic the Frog, an Australian Aboriginal Dreaming Story, was quickly created by my Year Four students and mailed to Marc’s Foundation class. This was the first story of many!

The Impact

Within a few month I was lucky enough to be visiting the UK and Marc’s class. From there, I saw the learning impact in which this story had on these Foundation students (5 year olds). They were re-writing the story, reenacting it, learning about the different Australian animals who made an appearance in the story and looking at different countries near Australia. The impact in which this simple story had on these students allowed them to create deep knowledge and even better, deep understanding.

The Foundation class wanted to retell the Tidalic story using their own methods and were quick to respond. With iPads in one hand and pencil in the other, they charged up

A photo of part of Foundation’s Puppet Pals retell

the narrative telling hill and forged a perfect Puppet Pals retell. Throughout this whole process, students were continuously referring back to the knowledge they learnt about animals, where Australia is located and of course their writing skills without even knowing! Imagine that, learning without even realising. BUT that is the power of this project, it is real life. Other students will be looking at, reviewing, peer assessing, learning from and sharing their work! ‘Someone else in another country will see it, it needs to be PERFECT!’ said one of my Year Four students.

This project has been picked up by people around the world. You can take a look at their work by clicking on the links below and for that Tidalic the Frog Story told by the Amazing BJPS Foundation class, make sure you click here!